I will never
by FFabeonG
Summary: (More Denmark x Estonia! Don't like, don't read, simple as!) Estonia is always the steady one, the calm one, but when a simple argument uncovers long-buried secrets, Denmark comes to realise that though he may not show it, Eduard has suffered too, and sometimes even he needs a shoulder to lean on. **angst and fluff alert!**
1. Chapter 1

"Um, Denmark?"

Mathias looked up- from his favourite TV show no less! - to see his Estonian boyfriend, Eduard, standing in the doorway to their living room.

"What's up?" The Dane reached to the remote and turned the volume down slightly. Estonia held some papers up in his hands.

"You were in the kitchen most of today, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Did you do this?" Estonia showed him the papers, which were half soaked-and-dried with a dark liquid, probably hot chocolate which the Danish man was partial to.

"Oh, I didn't think it had spilt that far…" Matthias shrugged. "Guess I just didn't wipe up properly." With that, he returned his attention to the show, but apparently that wasn't enough for Eduard.

"Taani, those were my notes for the meeting with Sweden tomorrow!"

"But you have everything saved on your laptop, don't you?" Denmark protested. "You can just print it out again!"

"You know the printer here is still broken, and the library's already closed…"

"Well email it to Finland or something, he'll print it for you, won't he?"

"He would, of course, but then it's possible Sweden himself will see it, and that's the last thing we want!" Rubbing his temple anxiously, Estonia placed the sodden papers down on the side and moved closer to Denmark's sofa.

"What? Come on, even I know Sweden can be a bit of a dick at times, but who cares if he sees?" Matthias reluctantly lowered the volume again on the TV to address the Estonian.

"Trust me, Berwald walking into that meeting knowing what I'm going to say is my worst nightmare…" Eduard tried to explain. "You know him; he'll have every argument planned out before I open my mouth!"

"Well yeah, but why would he care what his little wife is printing out?" Matthias got to his feet and picked up the papers briefly, inspecting the damage

Estonia groaned. "Denmark…"

"Seriously?" Denmark stood tall, trying to hold back his scowl "You're not the only one with a tough day tomorrow, Es, you know I've got my own meeting with f*cking _Germany_!"  
Wound up, Matthias flung his hands in the air, gesturing how difficult his own tomorrow would be, but as he did that Eduard suddenly flinched badly, and flung his own arms up as if to shield himself from a blow.

Matthias froze mid-sentence. His arms fell to his side and the air around them suddenly seemed very cold. Seconds passed, but it could have been hours until Estonia slowly lowered his hands to his side too. It was so quiet in the room, but it was the kind of fractured glass type quiet, that was too painful to bear for long.

Estonia didn't look Denmark in the eye, in fact, his whole face was turned away as if in shame, but for the life of him Matthias couldn't understand why. He didn't even really know what had just happened. All he really knew was that he could see Eduard's eyes behind those wire-framed glasses, and they looked a lot shinier than normal as the Estonian began to turn away.

"Wait-no!" without thinking, Denmark grabbed Estonia's wrist, but he heard the other's sharp intake of breath and quickly loosened his grasp. But he was scared to let go. Swallowing, Matthias moved ever-so-slightly closer, when the light from a passing car briefly lit the room and brushed over Estonia's face, illuminating his eyes that were steadily brimming with…

No. Please…no.

"Oh Eduard." Matthias whispered. Unable to hold himself back, he flung his arms around the Estonian, and a rush of (mostly) relief hit him when Eduard turned into his embrace, curling his finger into his shirt and burying his face into his shoulder. Slowly, the smaller one's arms crept around the Dane's shoulders and he was clutching onto him, sniffing (almost) silently. Matthias briefly brought up a hand to stroke the Estonian's dark blond hair, questions buzzing in his brain. Denmark hadn't even tried to hit at all, had he? What the hell would make Estonia respond like that- sh*t.  
Denmark lifted his head, staring at nothing in particular but horribly conscious of how Eduard was shaking, even though it was only slightly, as he realised. Estonia had only ever trembled like this around one other person, and that person was Russia. Could Russia have…?

"…Matthias?" His boyfriend's quiet voice interrupted Denmark's chain of thoughts, and he blinked before replying as softly as he could.

"Yeah?"

"I…I'm sorry for getting worked up over the papers." Dealing with the original argument first, how classically Eduard. "I know you would never do that on purpose."

"Never." Matthias confirmed, daring to press a kiss to Estonia's head. "I'm sorry for not cleaning it up properly anyway."

"That's ok."

More silence. Denmark slowly breathed out, knowing that he had to make something absolutely clear. But how exactly did he say something so important? Then he was suddenly speaking before his mind caught up.

"Heaven-" he said "- Or whatever the hell anyone thinks is up there- curse and destroy the day I raise my hand against you, Estonia."  
In sync, the two pulled back from the hug, but Matthias held Eduard's arms tightly, rested his forehead against the shorter one's, and when he spoke, it was slow and determined. "I will never hurt you."

"Yes. I trust you." Eduard looked back at him, eyes still red-rimmed, and Denmark knew that that response mean far more than an 'I know' or 'Ok'. This was Estonia, who had suffered centuries of invasion after invasion and oppression, saying 'I trust you' to him, and he was not going to take that lightly.

Sitting back down on the sofa, Matthias gently pulled Eduard with him, situating the Estonian on his lap and finding a cooking show they both watched often, even changing the settings so it was in Estonian, and had Danish subtitles this time. And to both their reliefs, the silence seemed warmer.

* * *

 _A/N: *le gasp* ESTDEN FEEEEEEEEEELS Ahem yes, sorry for my hiatus..._

 _Back on board the good ship EstDen [or DenEst, it works either way ;)] I felt like some angst was in order, but don't worry! Fluff next chapter :D_


	2. Chapter 2

A sudden knock at the door seemed to jolt Eduard from a light doze, and he started to get to his feet when a voice called from the door.

"Hang on, I found my key!"

"Is that Tino I hear?" Denmark grinned, wrapping an arm around Estonia to keep him on his lap. "Has he _Finnished_ the journey to our house."

"…I have no reply to that." Eduard's mouth was twitching towards a smile at his lover's terrible joke. Matthias grinned.

"Other than I'm an amazing comedian?"

"Let me think about that…" Eduard chuckled slightly just as Finland bustled in, stopping short as he took in the scene.

"Oh, am I interrupting a moment?" Tino giggled, wiggling his eyebrows at the couple.

"You have plenty of your own with your dear Su-san." Estonia replied as he struggled to his feet, with Denmark unwilling to let him go. "I'll get us some tea."

"Hey." Matthias was on his feet too, and gently caught Eduard's wrist, pulling him back briefly. "You ok?" he asked, softly enough so only the Estonian heard him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Eduard gave him a quick kiss and slipped out of his grasp, vanishing next door into the kitchen, and Denmark turned to see Finland with a very different expression on his face. His mouth was still turned towards a smile, but his eyes were suddenly stern and alert as he looked hard at the Dane.

"What's happened?" he asked, quietly. Denmark opened his mouth, trying to explain, then closed it again. Finland furrowed his brow. "Don't give me that sealed-lips thing, Denmark. I know my best friend, I know he's upset. What's happened?

"I guess I could ask the same thing." Matthias sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, and glancing at the kitchen door.

"What?" Finland had dropped his bag and stood with his arms folded waiting for an explanation. Glancing to make sure Eduard wasn't going to come through, Denmark moved closer and lowered his voice.

"What the f*ck did…did Russia do to him?!"

Tino's normally cheerful face darkened. "Matthias, if you've triggered anything for him I swear I will-"

"I didn't know!" Denmark hissed defensively. "I- we, look, we _were_ arguing, over something…pathetic, ok? And-"

"Just." Finland held up his hand momentarily. "I'm not going to tell you off for fighting. Heaven knows Sweden and I don't always see eye to eye, I don't blame you two for that at all, but then what happened?"

"I…I don't really know, I was talking and I kinda went like this-" here Denmark half-repeated the action he had done. "but Estland just…"

"Reacted badly?" Tino finished his sentence for him.

"Yeah- wait. How do you know all this?"

The Fin sighed. "Because I'm his best friend and I've seen it before. It's nearly the same with his brothers too, only the problem is Eduard is the one you expect it from least. And he has it the worst." The last bit was muttered, and Denmark frowned.

"I always heard that Estonia was the lucky one out of the three." He said.

"Mmm. Debatable." Was all Finland said just as Estonia re-entered, balancing a tray with three cups of tea on, and a few Danish biscuits on a plate.

"What'd I miss?" he chuckled, and Denmark replied with a pout.

"Finland doesn't like our show choice!" he lied.

"Nothing wrong with cookery competitions, Suomi!" Eduard narrowed his eyes at the Fin, who laughed and held up his hand in mock surrender.

"It's just not my thing, Eesti!" Finland sat down in the free armchair when the other two had also taken their seats, and Estonia had poured the tea. Tino rifled through his shoulder bag and pulled out two books, sliding them across the table to Eduard. "Thought you might like these." Tino grinned. "They're not too simple, but they helped me get my English up to scratch!"

Eduard's face lit up. "Oh these are great, thanks."

"What's that?" Denmark leaned over, curious, and Estonia handed him one of the books. "English? Seriously, you're learning English as well, Eduard?!"

"I already know quite a bit second-hand from Toris." Estonia was flicking through the one in his own hands. "These are just to help. You know English, don't you?"

"Only enough to get on with Britain!" Mathias laughed, and the other two laughed as well.

"Well what else is it good for?" Finland joked, and the evening progressed from there. The three laughed about old stories, Denmark had them in fits from his impression of America, and the cookies the couple had baked earlier in the week somehow vanished as soon as they were brought out. Eventually though, Finland insisted he had to go, otherwise Sweden would be sending out the search parties.

"Tell him to be nice tomorrow, won't you?" Eduard chuckled as Tino was shrugging on his coat against the harsh weather outside.

"Oh!" The Fin slapped a hand to his forehead. "That's what I was supposed to tell you! Ber wants to move your meeting back an hour- is that ok with you?"

"It's definitely ok with me." Mathias didn't miss the relief in Estonia's tone when he said that, and Finland nodded. He gave the Estonian a brief hug and gripped his shoulders.

"Take care of yourself, Eesti."

"Jah, don't worry."

No sooner had the door shut, Denmark pounced, wrapping his arms around the shorter blond's torso and clinging onto him. Estonia tilted his head back onto the Dane's shoulder, and a smile flickered across his face at the sweet kiss pressed to his cheek.

"Guess where you're sleeping tonight." Mathias mumbled into his boyfriend's ear.

"Not my own bed, I'm guessing?"

"Good guess, Edi." Denmark grinned when Estonia squirmed at the nickname, and finally released him to make a suggestion. "How about you go get ready for bed and I'll clear up here?"

"Sure?"

"Go on, I'll be there soon."

Estonia slipped away to the bedroom and Mathias got to work tidying up the plates and cups, placing them on the dishwasher to remind himself to load it, and placing Eduard's books on the side. Then from the chair he found the papers that had sparked the row, stained beyond legibility, and pondered whether to bin them or not. Then remembering that the meeting was now later, and that the library opened at six anyway, he chucked them in the bin and ambled to his bedroom where Eduard was already relaxing against the red and white pillows. He looked up from his book when the Dane came in.

"That was quick."

Mathias winked as he pulled his shirt off his head and kicked off his shoes, having been in his pyjama bottoms pretty much the whole afternoon anyway "I just can't keep away from you, can I?"

"I suppose not!" Estonia laughed as Denmark dived under the duvet and lifted it up so the smaller blond could slip under too once he had put his book to the side. Eduard slipped off his glasses and Denmark just had to stop him before he lay down, just to admire how… _cute_ the Estonian was without the wire-framed lenses. Young, plain and boring was how Estonia himself would put it, but Mathias loved seeing the younger one's aqua eyes properly, whether they were twinkling with laughter or burning with desire in more…um, _heated_ moments.

Plunged into darkness, the couple's breaths were the only sound in the room. Denmark snuck his arms around Estonia and pulled him against his chest, burying his face in the soft blond hair.

"Jeg elskar dig, Estland." He murmured. Mathias never wanted to see Eduard cry again, or feel him shaking in his arms. He knew his lover had been through hard times-who out of them hadn't?- and all he wanted was to keep him safe. "You know that, don't you? I love you."

"I love you too." Eduard whispered, looking up at the Dane. He wasn't scared. He wasn't shaking. But for now, he was tired.

And the night was calling them both.

* * *

 _A/N: Awwwwww fluffy time :3 :3 :3 *melts*_

 _Anyway, drop a review, tell me what you think and share the_ _pasta_ _WURST UND BEER!_


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